GA&U contracted with Christopher Tolkien to sign 100 copies of the book, but did not follow through with that. The signed copies would sell more easily than the other copies, so why would they not have done this? I would think that we know that at least 100 signed copies exist.

I am really interested now to know exactly how many signed and non-signed copies were sold.

I have copies of The Hobbit and Alice in Wonderland, translated into Swedish and illustrated by Tove Jansson, for sale. If you are interested before they go up on eBay, please let me know. My email address is andrew@avro707.force9.co.uk

Beren, are you saying there were only 500 copies of the Silm, not 1,000? I hadn't heard that. It would explain why this book is very hard to find.

I don't have a copy of the Silm; signed or unsigned; though I would very much like one. But I do have a copy of the Hobbit: one of the first 100, signed by CT. I also have one of the Methuen Silmarillions, bound in publishers' leather - and it has a bookplate which is inscribed: 'with gratitude, Christopher Tolkien'. nice!

Actually, there is one thing in a limitation notice of 100 signed copies and the actual amount of signed copies.

Also it is known that no more then 500 copies were produced of the Super Deluxe Limited Edition. And because in 1982 there was not a lot of interest only a few signed copies were ever produced.

Why do you think almost no 'serious' collector has a copy on his shelves? Because there don't exist that many copies. Seriously, this is not something I'm inventing. You can ask Wayne Hammond, he will tell you the same story.